


Lost and Found

by DigitalSiamese



Category: It Lives (Visual Novels)
Genre: F/M, Friendship/Love, Ghosts, Grief/Mourning, Memory Loss, Mentions of Death, Named MC, Reconciliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 06:26:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19351330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigitalSiamese/pseuds/DigitalSiamese
Summary: "What do you want from me?!" he shouts. "Why can't I just let you go?"You don't want to let her go, the better part of him says.You know what you have to do.





	Lost and Found

_“It’s not your fault.” She sounds so sure of herself, but he can’t believe her._

_He shakes his head. “How can you say that, after everything?”_

_“Because I want you to remember it.” Her hand, warm along his jaw, sliding down to straighten the collar of his jacket. He wants to hold her tighter, catch her wrist and pull her close, keep her from leaving; but she slips from his grasp. He loses her again, and all he can do is watch._

And then Noah is awake, staring at the cracked ceiling of a yellowing motel, wiping at the tears pooling in the corners of his eyes. That same dream, that same memory, over and over and over again; as if he’s trapped in a time-loop purgatory, forced to relive the worst moment of his life until he finds a way to right the wrongs he caused.

“What do you want from me?!” he shouts. “Why can’t I just let you go?”

He closes his eyes. He sees her, cold and lifeless, cradled against his chest. _You don’t want to let her go,_ the better part of him says.

_You know what you have to do._

 

◆

 

The night is dark and unfriendly; the woods, even more so. His jacket and hat are enough to keep the chill at bay, but he shivers nonetheless, trying to find an excuse that will satisfy his conscience enough that he can walk away. Nothing comes to mind.

_Click._ The beam of his flashlight illuminates the thin path in front of him, and with a shaky breath he takes his first step between the trees.

He hasn’t been in the woods since...

He wonders if any of the others ever returned. Wonders if they found her body, had a funeral for her. Wonders if whatever is left of his friend’s spirit has become twisted and angry like Redfield, like Jane. He wonders if he’s walking right into the lair of a vengeful ghost; and then decides that if she does kill him, it will be more than he deserves.

After all, she would be alive if he hadn’t screwed up her life.

Slowing to a stop, Noah glances around, suddenly unsure as to how to proceed. Will she be able to hear him? He’s been on the run, is now miles away from the ruins and the school and even Westchester itself - yet not far enough to escape the reach of the forest. Will she be able to sense him from so far away?

There’s only one way to find out.

“Marie?” he hesitantly calls.

Silence.

“Marie? Are you there? It’s me - it’s...it’s Noah.”

A breeze suddenly pushes him from behind, a gentle hand urging him deeper into the woods. He follows its guidance, stomach wobbling with uncertainty. _Have I finally lost it?_ he thinks. _I’m following the wind like some kind of lunatic._

But then he hears it: a voice.

The wind dies down. Noah stops - and there she is. He can see her kneeling in the clearing in front of him, head tipped back as a mournful wail rattles through her chest.

She’s crying.

It hurts to hear. He recognizes her voice even though now it’s warped and slow, because for one brief, wonderful moment of his life, she was his best friend. And though his guilt eats away at him, telling him to turn and run, he takes a deep breath and steps into the clearing, into the open where she can see him.

“Marie?”

She starts. Her eyes, wide and blue and luminous, lock with his. There’s a pause.

_“...Noah?”_

Oh. She knows who he is. “Y-yeah,” he stutters, barely more than a whisper. “It’s me. Marie, I -” The words die in his throat as Marie rises to her feet, black smoke rolling off her spectral form, and takes a lurching step toward him. _“...Noah??”_ she says again.

Swallowing, Noah replies, “Yeah.”

Immediately she’s upon him, a strangely corporeal weight tackling him backward. _This is it!!_ his brain tells him as he tumbles to the forest floor. _This is how it feels to die!!_ He braces himself for the inevitable pain...yet nothing happens. When he opens his eyes, he sees Marie above him, face barely inches from his own.

_“Noooooah,”_ Marie sobs, low and wobbly. _“Missed you.”_

_She’s not going to kill me,_ Noah realizes, and then - “Wait. You missed me?”

She nods, and he can see her in there, just beyond the haze; just like he had been able to see Jane, once. _“So lonely...”_ The weight he felt knocking him around earlier is gone, replaced by a warmth that ebbs across his chest from where she lays atop it. _“So...alone...”_

“Alone?” he repeats. “Has no one else come to see you?”

_“...No.”_ She pulls away, taking the warmth with her. _“Am monster.”_

Monster. As he sits up, Noah notices for the first time that there are long gouges in the trees that surround them, dark patches where the ground has been scorched. Marie follows his gaze and then looks away in shame.

_“Was always...a monster?”_

“You don’t remember?”

_“No.”_ Shaking her head, she answers, _“Remember you. Remember others. Not me...not really.”_

“You’re wonderful,” Noah blurts out before he can stop himself. “You’re beautiful and kind, a-and you’re the only one who believed in me, and you brought everyone together again after so many years, and - and -” His throat tightens with a sob, cutting him off. “And you were there for Jane when she needed you the most.”

Marie’s shoulders slump. _“Couldn’t save Jane.”_

“But you saved _me_ ,” Noah whispers.

They sit there for a moment: monster and man, traitor and savior, friend and friend. And then Marie dives back into his arms - gentler this time - burying her face in his neck, wrapping him in tendrils of smoke. Noah clings desperately to her, letting the tears roll freely down his face. They cry together for a long time.

_“Stay with me,”_ Marie pleads.

“Always,” Noah promises.


End file.
